HEKS/EPER is making a difference in the «Advocacy» in Georgia

The HEKS/EPER Programme in Georgia is part of the South Caucasus Regional Programme. It strives to foster peaceful coexistence and improve living conditions in rural areas through income-generating activities and by empowering civil society. To boost their crop yields and incomes, smallholders broaden their knowledge of organic farming and improve their access to infrastructure, micro-credits and markets. And to strengthen social cohesion, HEKS/EPER supports its partner organizations in building a network which, in collaboration with opinion leaders, media and civil society organizations, provides its members with neutral information about politics, society and the current conflicts in the South Caucasus.

Facts

In South Caucasus, HEKS/EPER helped some 5400 fruit and milk producers increase their income in 2017.

560 young people developed a joint vision of peace through constructive dialogue.

The work of HEKS/EPER revolves around socially disadvantaged people. These include asylum seekers and refugees, sans-papiers (undocumented persons) as well as people on low incomes and those facing discrimination. They are all especially at risk of seeing their rights violated or of social exclusion. HEKS/EPER advocates on their behalf and strives to support them in exercising their rights and improving their lot. HEKS/EPER works actively to secure Switzerland's protection for people who would be in danger if they returned to their country of origin or to a third country, whether for medical reasons, owing to violence and war, the lack of a social security network or because of deliberate persecution.